then I don't wonder at the dread of antiquity that the aldermen have had, 

 and yet there was a clause in the agreement — 



'' That the City Hall caretaker be responsible for the care of the His- 

 torical rooms as well as of those belonging to the Public Library." 



We are pleased, however, with the greater energy and higher appre- 

 ciation of books shown by the present Library Committee, in comparison with 

 their predecessors. 



The Carnegie Library, notwithstanding the ungrateful remarks made 

 now and then by citizens as to the donor, Mr. Andrew Carnegie, was the 

 only solution of the Library question. It has given us new hope of having 

 a great City Library. 



The quarters then — suitable and commodious — having been provided, 

 the city is committed to making the Public Library worthy of the great 

 metropolis of Western Canada, worthy of a University city, and worthy of 

 the ambition of a city of nearly one hundred thousand people. 



It becomes citizens interested in the higher interests of the metropolis to 

 discuss: — What shall be put into the Carnegie building? What ideals shall 

 prevail? What class of books shall be obtained — the merely ephemeral »>r 

 the permanent? 



FICTION. 



The prevalence of novel reading in our Public Libraries is one of the 

 features of the age. It would be narrow and unwise to object to good 

 works of fiction. The parable, the allegory, the novel, and much poetry 

 may be the product of the imagination and represent the highest flight of 

 human intellect. But that eighty per cent of all the books read from our 

 public libraries is fiction is surely grotesque and unreasonable. And then 

 the varying quality of fiction should be taken into account. The novel of our 

 own time should not be excluded, but the plethora of poor novels is a feature 

 of this first decade of the Twentieth Century. It is a fair question whether 

 the ephemeral fiction should be found in our public libraries at all. For 

 one thing, it is not possible to meet the ardent novel reader's demand. The 

 public library usually takes in half a dozen copies of the latest novel. These 

 novels are put on as seven day books. A break-neck da;h is made by the 

 mentally-jaded novel reader to get the new novel. Only six persons in the 

 first week can each get one of the six copies; only twenty-four all told can 

 obtain the said novel in the first month. In the month the craving for it is 

 over, and only a handful of the hundreds demanding it can be supplied. 



